4. Innovation

New Jersey

Following the appointment of a Chief Innovation Officer as a cabinet-level official in 2018, the state has continued to invest in the expansion of the Office of Innovation. The office launched the Innovation Skills Accelerator, a free, online program to train state staff to use innovative methods – including design thinking, evidence-based decision-making, and collective intelligence – to solve public problems. Related to workforce issues, in May 2021, the Office of Innovation, the RSA, and The Workers Lab kicked off the Future of Work Accelerator, an open innovation challenge to recruit innovators whose work advances New Jersey’s workers’ health and safety, improves access to benefits, strengthens training opportunities, and bolsters workers’ voices.